The Now Spinning/Recent Purchases Thread

(Formal Western Art Music Survey, 1750-1950: Week LXV -- Rachmaninov)

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It's been a few minutes since I've listened to this record. Or actually, SACD these days, as the 45 RPM cut of this is too expensive.

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I like what Peterson did with "Jet Song" on this record. That bassline, too.



The final cut on the album was always a favorite--it recaps the other six tracks in rapid succession. One of his best albums IMHO. The only thing that would have improved this would have been a version of "Cool," my favorite song from West Side Story. Cal Tjader did a great version of it on Fantasy.
 
I am not a Dead fan by any stretch of the imagination, however I gotta say the recent Bob Weir & Wolf Bros releases are superb.
Possibly some of the best live recorded music on CD I have ever heard.
 
Pleasantly surprised. X2!

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I picked this up, a vinyl release that is part of Verve's Acoustic Sounds Series. The records were sourced from original analog tapes, under the supervision of Chad Kassem of Analogue Productions, mastered at Sterling Sound (which Kassem purchased and moved to Kansas) and pressed at his QRP pressing plant. They are packaged in Stoughton "tip-on" jackets. The packaging excellent and I'm happy to say that the vinyl is flawless and sounds excellent.

This was in the same shipment, and is also part of the same release series. Packaging and sound are equally good. In this case, I'm hearing a few things I've never heard in this recording before. This is mostly an instrumental record, with Ray Charles on the organ. The only song with vocals is "I've Got News for You." (Our high school jazz band covered that song, complete with the vocal part--brought the house down every time. 😁 ) It features the hit single "One Mint Julep" which has one little vocal tidbit from Charles: "Just a little bit of so-da."

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Both of these, incidentally, were produced by Creed Taylor, from that small batch of albums when he launched the Impulse! label just prior to leaving for Verve.

I am looking at a couple more. Even though it's not a favorite, I still might get the Getz/Gilberto album. (I prefer Jazz Samba, to be honest. I'm hoping it is a future release in the series.) I already have a recent Verve vinyl version of Trio '64 by Bill Evans, but it just doesn't sound very good. I already have Trio '65 in a 2-LP 45 RPM set, so I know that Trio '64 probably sounds better in this series.

Oscar Peterson has a couple of titles in the series, but neither album does much for me (Night Train, and We Get Requests...they are kind of similar). If Verve offered West Side Story or Bursting Out...with the All-Star Big Band, I would consider those. (The former was a 2-LP 45 RPM release from Acoustic Sounds but it was too much for my budget.)

There is also the Pharoah Sanders LP Karma but the jury's still out on whether it's something I'd listen to all that often.
 
Landmark 1980 debut album from British reggae group UB40...

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Released as a 33⅓ RPM LP and 45 RPM 12-inch single in one sleeve. Their group name came from the pictured unemployment benefits card in the UK.

Anyone who has watched the film Urgh! A Music War will recognize "Madam Medusa," one of the three tracks on the 12-inch single. Overall it's a solid album, and three years later they would score a #1 hit with "Red, Red Wine."


 
Timberline only 1977 album "The Great Timber Rush" (complete album originally on Epic Records which was reissued in November 2018 & also on Apple iTunes) which has the remake of Sonoma 1973 song "Love For You" (which has the 3 members of Punch & former A&M Records act as backing vocals & the late Hal Blaine on drums & percussion)!!
 
Reissue by Impex Records:

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This is the first audiophile release of Time Further Out that I know of. I have the Music On Vinyl reissue which sounds good, but doesn't have the same "life" this one does. No idea what source MOV used for their cut.

Interesting side note--in Brubeck's bio, he had mentioned that Paul Desmond used to sit out on songs that he did not care for. Naturally he would sit out for the track "Far More Drums," which was "Far More Blues" but featuring a lengthy drum solo by Joe Morello. But Desmond sat out four of the five tracks on side two of the LP.
 
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This one came late last week--I ordered it along with the aforementioned Ray Charles and Oliver Nelson records in the same Verve/Acoustic Sounds series.

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The infamous Getz/Gilberto album. I'm happy to report the same as the other two records--the sound is top notch, and the record's surfaces are dead quiet. I heard two cuts from another version of this release this past weekend, but I'll be posting about that shortly.

Anyhow, this one is probably the best copy to get, especially with the 45 RPM version costing so much these days.

Interesting back story on how the album came into being. One excerpt of the story is that when they were in the middle of recording the album (which took place over about a week and a half), the Getz's had the others on the album at their home. The guys were discussing the music in the living room, trying to decide if they should use another vocalist on "Girl from Ipanema." Stan's wife was preparing dinner in the kitchen with Astrud, and having heard Astrud singing to herself while making dinner, she mentioned that they should try Astrud. After the "no way!" comments, they decided that they would give it a try and at best, get a laugh out of a musician's wife singing on the track and go on with their business.

History told us otherwise...and it was one of Verve's biggest hit singles. It also took Getz's wife some covert maneuvers behind the scenes--she had people plug the single to radio stations around the country, and it was a hit in major markets. That finally prompted Verve to release the album, which sat on the shelf for 13 months after being recorded!

In contrast, the album Jazz Samba was cut in a single session. Short story is that Getz wanted to fly in, cut the record, and fly back home the same day. And that was the album that sparked the bossa nova movement in the US and, possibly, worldwide.
 
At the moment while working from home--Return to Forever Returns, a live recording from their reunion concert. Spread. Across. Four. LPs. 🤣 At the price I purchased it, though, it was like buying the two CD set (the two CDs are included) with a free set of four LPs.

At least I need the exercise, so getting up to flip sides is a bonus. 😁 (Honestly, it feels better being forced to get up from working at a desk every 15-20 minutes.) But it's confusing since the sleeves do not indicate which record is inside. I have not yet transfered these to better sleeves, but the packaging is so tight (a gatefold with two LPs in each half) that I don't know where I'd store the sleeves, unless I use a larger poly sleeve to hold them with the jacket somehow.

Anyhoo, the music is good. The songs haven't changed one bit, and the fresh recording technology and extended solos make it worthwhile. The video of this concert is worth watching if you can find it. They appeared at a jazz festival during this tour, so this is an abbreviated version:

 
I played this earlier today. Analogue Productions 45 RPM set.

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Granted, I'm a big fan of Bill Evans, especially his Riverside recordings. But for some reason, this album just doesn't seem to work as well as his other Trio recordings. "The Washington Twist" starts off the album rather promisingly, but it seems to fall flat halfway through. It feels like a case of excellent musicians not quite achieving the spark when put together into a working unit. Evans and Shelly Manne also recorded A Simple Matter of Conviction with Evans' bassist Eddie Gomez that I like a little better, although the master tape was damaged over the years and the beginning of the first track is badly mangled.
 
Another good title from the Impulse! label, this one by Mike Metheny--haven't played the rekkid in a while. His kid brother (who a few might have heard of) sits in for a few guitar solos here and there.

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I remember it took a while for Day In--Night Out to appear on CD, which I eventually found. But the record sounds really good, especially considering the reputation of some of MCA's pressings back during those year.

I played Yellowjackets The Spin on vinyl also--vinyl's not quite as good but was still a decent listen.
 
Doing some server maintenance tonight. I played my vinyl copy of Claus Ogerman's Gate of Dreams late this afternoon, and don't recall ever playing it. Vinyl looks and sounds good but the SugarCube was working overtime to clean up a lot of ticks. 👍

It looks like it is available on Qobuz and streaming. And also, YouTube Music.

Give it a listen. In a way it reminds me of Bacharach in that it has strings (more so than an A&M Bacharach album), but also has some contemporary instruments, a drum kit, and even David Sanborn on a sax solo (similar to Bacharach's Futures). Apparently these are themes that were written for a ballet. So it goes without saying that anyone who enjoys Burt's instrumental side probably will like this album. Ogerman composed, arranged and conducted this 1977 set, with Tommy LiPuma producing, released on Warner Bros.

George Benson takes a solo on the second track, and Michael Brecker, Joe Sample, and Larry Bunker also augment the all-star cast.

Here's the entire album. Enjoy!

 
Update!

This one came late last week--I ordered it along with the aforementioned Ray Charles and Oliver Nelson records in the same Verve/Acoustic Sounds series.

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The infamous Getz/Gilberto album. I'm happy to report the same as the other two records--the sound is top notch, and the record's surfaces are dead quiet. I heard two cuts from another version of this release this past weekend, but I'll be posting about that shortly.

"I wish they had reissued Jazz Samba," he says to himself.

Turns out it's available for preorder, being released May 26 this year, on the Verve Acoustic Sounds Series. 🥳 🍻
 
Suddenly, a wild Trio 64 appears.

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Another Verve Acoustic Sounds Series release, delivered overnight.

I already own a Verve reissue of this Bill Evans Trio record in the Back to Black series, so I really hesitated before buying this one.

All I can say is that after one minute of "Little Lulu," I no longer questioned my decision. The mastering is just far and away better. I've had this on CD, where I first discovered it back in the early 80s from that Jazz Like You've Never Heard It Before sampler CD from Polygram (which covered Verve and other jazz labels they owned). The amount of detail is easily heard. In fact, once I get some time, I am going to do a needle drop of "Little Lulu" from both albums and post them for comparison. (I may even see if there's a way I can offer them as FLAC files vs. doing it via YouTube, which kills most of the differences.) One detail easily heard is how clear the cymbals are now--it's like "ssssssss" vs. "shshsh." Another detail is how much more of the mechanical sounds of the bass you hear--the clicking of the strings make it sound like the bass is right in the room.

I'm pretty much done with the series for now, until the preorders arrive. Jazz Samba is coming at the end of May, and the Wes Montgomery/Wynton Kelly Trio classic LP Smokin' at the Half Note (arguably Wes's best recorded performance) arrives in a week and a half.
 
I've been following Peter Gabriel's new single releases since January. He is releasing his new album i/o one song at a time, coinciding with each full moon. So far, the tracks released have been "Panopticom," "The Court," "Playing for Time," and "i/o." All full moon releases are a "Bright-Side Mix" where on each new moon, he releases a "Dark-Side Mix" of the same track, as well as an "In-Side Mix." Presumably the finished album may have different mixes...?

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i/o is Peter's first full studio album project since Up back in 2002. A world tour starts about a month from now in Poland. I saw Peter on the Still Growing Up tour back in 2003, back when Ticketmaster was less insane than they are today.
 
I saw Peter Gabriel at Pine Knob Music Theater in Clarkston, Michigan back in August of 1987 during the "So" tour with Youssou N'Dour as the opening act & Peter introduced him when he came on!! Bass player for King Crimson Tony Levin was there too!! I left during the encore because I did not want to wait for big traffic heading out!!
 
Playing Paul Desmond's Skylark while I work.

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I will say that the mastering on the SACD as well as the CD (streamable over Qobuz) sounds much better than the original LP, which is a bit dull and the highly-compressed drum kit sounds even more "smashed" on the LP. This album features Gabor Szabo (shudders slightly) on guitar (although Gene Bertoncini plays rhythm guitar throughout), and I've been enjoying DeJohnette's drum work on this record as well.
 
Playing Paul Desmond's Skylark while I work.

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I will say that the mastering on the SACD as well as the CD (streamable over Qobuz) sounds much better than the original LP, which is a bit dull and the highly-compressed drum kit sounds even more "smashed" on the LP. This album features Gabor Szabo (shudders slightly) on guitar (although Gene Bertoncini plays rhythm guitar throughout), and I've been enjoying DeJohnette's drum work on this record as well.
I like this album my favorite track on this is "Was A Sunny Day" it reminds me a little of his performance with Brubeck on the album "Bossa Nova USA" which I also love it seems Desmond always was giving a small musical tribute to his former boss in some way on his post Brubeck albums but I enjoy it all equally
 
I like this album my favorite track on this is "Was A Sunny Day" it reminds me a little of his performance with Brubeck on the album "Bossa Nova USA" which I also love it seems Desmond always was giving a small musical tribute to his former boss in some way on his post Brubeck albums but I enjoy it all equally
He didn't do it as much on record, but one of the party tricks Desmond like to do on live gigs was quote other songs in his solos. It got to the point where he could tell Brubeck what he was feeling at the moment as he'd quote from a handful of songs in succession and once the song titles were strung together, Brubeck would laugh over it.

"Was A Sunny Day" was like a continuation of his Simon and Garfunkel album (for those not aware, it's a Paul Simon song).

Desmond made quite a few nice LPs with Jim Hall on RCA. If you haven't heard those yet, they're a good listen. Jim Hall is a very understated guitarist, so he is a perfect fit for Desmond's sound.
 
Singer Josh (on Bell Records) also did "Was A Sunny Day" that went to # 13 (Billboard Adult Contemporary) in 1973.
 
It's hard to pick a favorite among Harry Belafonte's many tracks, but this compilation sums up a lot of his strengths.



I have "Man Smart, Woman Smarter" on other CD compilations but they are not the correct version that I know from the 45RPM EP that I grew up with. This Essential set surprisingly has the right one. It's not the big band/mambo version from Calypso. "Jerry (This Timber Got To Roll)" was the track that followed on the EP, and both predate the Calypso fad.

But a truly excellent album? This is my vote. As fun as Calypso is, and as good of a recording as Belafonte at Carnegie Hall is, this one musically hits all the buttons for me. It was recorded in L.A. with a lot of familiar names, and was his first recorded in stereo. My 45 RPM 2-LP set is sumptuous, even goosebump-inducing.



96 years old was a good, long life lived!
 
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